Merchants have been cropping up in the news in recent months after their point-of-sale terminals were exploited by fraudsters and leveraged to steal payment information and other sensitive data from customers. This has led to a renewed emphasis on data security and encryption in the retail and payments sectors and has many merchants thinking twice about what they are doing to protect themselves against fraud.

However, Practical eCommerce added that there is more to fraud than simply POS breaches. Criminals will try to scam merchants in a number of different ways, which is why it is pivotal that sellers have the necessary checks in place during the payment processing part of transactions and the appropriate policies and practices established elsewhere throughout operations.

For example, one common type of scam thieves will run is approaching online sellers with a big order that cannot be done on the merchant's website. They may want to make a purchase in a bulk so big it requires extra negotiations or simply claim they are looking to spend a lot of money. Then they will enter negotiations with the retailer and begin arranging payments and the transfer of goods. Because the order is so large, the customer asks the merchant to use a third-party logistics company of the fraudster's choosing to cut back on shipping expenses.

As suspicious as that all sounds, the fact of the matter is that many merchants fall for similar scams all the time. Perhaps it is because of lack of experience, unspecific or nonexistent practices and protocols, or some other reason, but fraud is a very real threat.

With merchants increasingly leveraging omnichannel retailing, it is crucial they also make fraud protection a part of the buying process across all different sales avenues.